FAQS

 

A: You can mediate at any time, before or after legal proceedings are issued. Mediating late means that one of the issues which inevitably adds to the problem is dealing with the legal costs that both parties will have incurred by that time. You should however have done enough work to know the detail of your case well, to have available sufficient information to allow your opponent to see and understand the specific complaints you bring and for each party to be able to see the likely amount of any losses.

 

A: No. Mediation is a voluntary process and the parties are free to terminate it at any time. The mediator is not present to decide who is right and who is wrong. The mediator will not impose any outcome.

 

A: Yes. It is however usual to have a lawyer present to assist you in disputes which involve either reasonably large sums of money or complex issues of law. This is because the mediator is not present to offer legal advice to the parties, and in arriving at a decision on whether or not to settle your dispute you may need to have an accurate and realistic assessment of your chances of succeeding at court if you do not accept a settlement.

 

A: Yes. Suggesting mediation is not a sign of weakness. The courts actively require all parties to consider mediation and those who unreasonably refuse can be penalized by the courts in relation to the legal costs incurred.

 

A: Yes.

 

A: If there is no settlement then the parties are free to continue to bring or defend their claims in court. Anything done or said in the mediation remains confidential.

 

A: This depends on the availability of the parties and the mediator. It is unusual to organize a mediation on less than 2 weeks notice and typically 3 to 6 weeks notice is common. In urgent cases, and subject to availability of the parties, mediations can however be organised within no more than a few days.

 

A: Our mediators are all qualified solicitors and experienced litigators in their own right, each with many years of dispute resolution experience. In addition to being regulated by the Law Society, our mediators adopt the European Code of Conduct for Mediators, a copy of which can be found on our website. Our mediators are members of the Civil Mediation Council, and are accredited and trained by either the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) or ADR Group. Our mediators carry professional liability insurance for £10M.